Beet Raising and Community Welfare 255 



EMPLOYMENT FOR CHILDREN 



In raising sugar-beets, considerable hand labor is re- 

 quired. ]\Iuch of this work can be done well by children ; 

 in fact, children often can thin beets better and more 

 rapidly than their parents. They can be used to ad- 

 vantage also in weeding and in topping. This means that 

 in regions where sugar-beets are raised, children who go to 

 school during the winter can earn good wages in vacation 

 times. 



In many irrigated districts of the West, where most of 

 the sugar-beets of America are produced, persons live in 

 towns and not on their farms. These towns provide many 

 children who have no regular employment in the summer. 

 These small communities lack the industries found in 

 the large cities. Many of the inhabitants do not have 

 land of their ovm ; as a result, their children are idle when 

 not in school. If the farms of the region produce only 

 hay and grain, no work is available for children ; but when 

 sugar-beets are added, these young persons find healthful 

 and paying employment instead of spending the summer 

 on the streets. In this, as in other work for children, 

 care must be taken to avoid the evils of child labor. 



WINTER EMPLOYMENT 



In all the farming communities work is more pressing 

 in the summer than in the winter. In order to have suf- 

 ficient help to care for crops during the busy season, 

 there is an excess at other times. This means that or- 

 dinarily some of the hands are idle and that winter wages 

 are low. 



